Michmaloyan (Osu35v)

Michmaloyan (Osu35v)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This painted compound Nahuatl hieroglyph represents the place name Michmaloyan ("Where Fish are Customarily Caught"). Here, three of the four elements convey the action of fishing, including what may be a hook, a net, water, and a fish. This is all set on top of a hill or mountain (tepetl), which can serve as a generic visual locative referring to the landscape, given that tepetl is not a part of the place name. The mountain could also serve as an indicator that this is an altepetl, socio-political unit or ethnic state, given that the sign includes the red and yellow slit where water (atl) will emerge in some hieroglyphs.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The other hieroglyph for Michmaloyan, below, shows a fish and a hand, the latter being a phonetic indicator for the verb "to fish."

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

michmaloyan

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Michmaloyan

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Osuna, Codex (Osu)
Date of Manuscript: 

1551–1565

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
place name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound fully logographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals: Fish/Shellfish/Snails
Hunting and Fishing
Landscape Features
Names (places)
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
green (light)
red
tan
white/neutral
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
checked, cross-hatched, or mesh
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
4
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
downward
Keywords: 

peces, pescar, pesca, fish, pescado, catch, nombres de lugares, place names, topónimo, topónimos, net, nets, red, redes, anzuelo, anzuelos

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

mich(in), fish, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/michin
mā, to catch, to hunt, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ma-0
-lo- (passive), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/lo
[Note: Karttunen explains that mālō is the impersonal derivation of mā, leading to the meaning that hunting or capturing customarily goes on.]
-yān (locative suffix), where something happens customarily, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/yan
ma(tl), hand or arm, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/matl
mai(tl), hand or arm, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/maitl

Karttunen’s Interpretation: 

"Place Where They Catch Fish" (aligns with the Berdan and Anawalt interpretation) [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

"Place Where They Catch Fish" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, p. )

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

"El Lugar Donde Pescan Regularmente"

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Library of Congress Online Catalog and the World Digital Library, Osuna Codex, or Painting of the Governor, Mayors, and Rulers of Mexico, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_07324/. The original is located in the Biblioteca Nacional de España.

Image Source, Rights: 

"The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse." But please cite the Biblioteca Nacional de España and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs if you use any of these images here or refer to the content on this page, providing the URL

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Michmaloyan (Mdz31r)